POLLS In an extraordinary monetary policy meeting Tuesday, the Bank of Japan said it would help companies get operating funds toward the yearend by accepting lower-rated corporate debt from banks as collateral for loans.
[THE JAPAN TIMES]

POLLS The support rate for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s Cabinet stood at 33.4 percent in the latest Kyodo News poll, down 2.2 percentage points from the previous survey and the lowest level since the start of his administration last September.
[THE JAPAN TIMES]

POLLS Nearly 60 percent of voters want revenue from the higher gas tax rate used for general purposes, not just road construction as stipulated in the ruling coalition’s bill, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.
[ASAHI]

POLLS The approval rate of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda dipped to 38.7 percent in the latest opinion poll by The Yomiuri Shimbun, while the disapproval rate rose to 50.8 percent.
[YOMIURI]

POLLS With the battle over the higher gasoline tax rate threatening to flare again, 55 percent of voters want the ruling and opposition camps to compromise and find common ground, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.
[ASAHI]

POLLS Public support for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s Cabinet has jumped 6.1 points to 41.4 percent from last month, according to a public opinion poll taken after the ruling coalition forced passage of a contentious antiterrorism bill through the Diet on Friday.
[THE JAPAN TIMES]

POLLS The pension debacle slashed the Cabinet’s support rate to 31 percent, a level below the non-support rate for the first time since Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda took office, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.
[ASAHI]

POLLS The support rate for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plunged to 31 percent in the latest survey from 44 percent in the previous survey in early December, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported Friday.
[KYODO]

POLLS The approval rating for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s Cabinet plunged 11.7 percentage points from early November to 35.3 percent, according to an opinion poll Kyodo News conducted Saturday and Sunday over the telephone.
[KYODO]

POLLS The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan would go neck to neck if a Lower House election is held now, according to the results of The Asahi Shimbun survey conducted over the weekend.
[ASAHI]

POLLS Fifty percent of respondents to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey consider it inevitable or somewhat necessary that the consumption tax rate must rise to maintain the current social security system, including the pension program.
[YOMIURI]

POLLS Forty-four percent of the general public want the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to win the next House of Representatives election, a Mainichi Shimbun poll suggests.
(1)[MAINICHI]